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Albany to Address Co-op and Condo Tax Break

By Danny Hakim July 5, 2012 5:16 pmJuly 5, 2012 5:16 pm

ALBANY — Condo and co-op owners in New York City can exhale — most of them, at least.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and lawmakers expect to return to the capital by the end of the year to prevent a scheduled tax increase for hundreds of thousands of owners of co-ops and condominiums in New York City, officials in both houses and the governor’s office said Thursday.

The governor said last month that he hoped the city could make an administrative adjustment that would keep in place an existing tax break. City officials said Thursday that it would require new legislation, but the sides said they had reached agreement on a change to be considered when lawmakers return to Albany for a special session before the end of the year, probably after the November election. The agreement was previously reported by The Queens Courier.

Under the terms of the agreement, lawmakers would increase tax breaks for middle-class owners of condominiums and co-ops but would phase out the breaks for those owners whose condos or co-ops are not their primary residences.

“We have reached an agreement on landmark legislation that will cut taxes for the vast majority of condo and co-op owners who pay a disproportionate share of the city’s property tax burden,” Michael Whyland, a spokesman for the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, said in a statement. Mr. Silver is a Democrat from Manhattan.

A proposed tax break had been part of a complex housing package that emerged on June 21, the last day of the legislative session, but died after the governor refused to waive the normal three-day waiting period between when a bill is introduced and when it can be voted on. He said such a step should be taken only in an emergency.

The abatement, which expired on June 30, could lead to $430 million in additional taxes for more than 360,000 taxpayers in the city, or $1,194 on average, according to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s office.

“In the short term, the city has issued tax bills for the current fiscal year based on the current tax abatement rates,” Mr. Whyland said. “When the legislation is signed into law as promised by the governor, we anticipate that the new lower rates will be effective retroactive to July 1.”

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